Estonian Open Air Museum

On January 1, 2014, the state museum Estonian Open Air Museum and the state institution Conservation Centre Kanut merged into a foundation under the name Estonian Open Air Museum. The foundation continues as a museum introducing rural architecture and landscapes, and as a competence center for restoration, conservation, and digitization.
The Story of the Estonian Open Air Museum

In 1909, the Estonian National Museum was founded in Tartu and in 1913 declared its mission to also establish an open-air museum. Estonian intellectuals got the idea after visiting open-air museums in Scandinavia and Finland (Skansen in Sweden was founded in 1891, in Norway in 1897, in Denmark in 1901, and Seurasaari in Finland in 1909). However, World War I hindered serious progress. From 1921 onward, the resources of the Estonian National Museum were focused on setting up at Raadi Manor, and growing economic difficulties made the expensive project of an open-air museum unfeasible.

From 1925 to 1931, the Estonian Open Air Museum Association operated in Tallinn, and the idea of establishing the museum in the capital gained traction. In the 1920s and 1930s, ethnographers of the Estonian National Museum, such as I. Manninen, F. Linnus, and G. Ränk, promoted and planned the future exposition. The park-museum in Pirita was supposed to open on July 1, 1941, but war broke out.

Starting in 1950, the Architects’ Union, led by K. Tihase, A. Kasper, H. Arman, G. Jomm, and others, revived the idea. More concrete preparations began in 1956 within the Ministry of Culture. Architects F. Tomps and I. Sagur, and historians H. Moora, G. Troska, A. Viires, and O. Korzjukov were also involved.

The museum was founded on May 22, 1957, and officially opened on June 1 the same year. In July, a 66-hectare site near Tallinn on the coast of Kopli Bay, at the historic Rocca al Mare summer manor, was designated for the museum. It opened to visitors in August 1964, while still under construction.

Today, the museum spans 72.22 hectares and displays 74 buildings.
The Story of Kanut Conservation Centre

On December 1, 1986, the Republic Restoration Centre was established based on the restoration departments of the State Art Museum and the State Open Air Museum. The goal was to serve museums under the Ministry of Culture (then the Estonian SSR Culture Committee) and support other memory institutions where possible. The initiative came from Endel Valk-Falk, a renowned leather artist and conservator, who led the center until 1995.

The center was housed in Tallinn’s Old Town at Pikk Street 2, in the former “Kommunist” print house, where it still operates. Eight workshops were opened: for ethnographic and polychrome wood, furniture, painting, leather, textile, ceramics, metal, and paper conservation. The center also began offering consultations and training for museum specialists and conservators. Since 1988, the professional journal Renovatum Anno… has been published.

In 1990, the institution was renamed Kanut Conservation Centre, derived from Knud Lavard, a Danish duke and patron saint of Tallinn’s craftsmen.

Since 2005, Kanut has also provided digitization services for cultural heritage items.

From early 2015, the former Kanut Conservation Centre is officially named the Centre for Conservation and Digitization Kanut.